2024 Election Series – Page 2

What Does Taiwan’s Presidential Election Outcome Tell Us About Its Economic Prospects?

19 January 2024 Chee-Hann Wu

Written by Min-Hua Chiang. William Lai (Lai Ching-te) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secured his election as Taiwan’s 16th president on January 13, 2024. As the DPP extends its rule for another four years, the administration is likely to maintain President Tsai Ing-wen’s economic policies, notably diversifying the economy away from China. Navigating Taiwan’s export-oriented economy through the evolving US-China relationship will pose the most significant challenge for the new administration.

Remembering Shih Ming-teh

18 January 2024 Chee-Hann Wu

Written by Thomas J. Shattuck. On January 15, 2024, only a few days after the election, longtime democracy and human rights advocate, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and politician Shih Ming-teh passed away. Given his place in Taiwan’s history and democratic development, it is important to remember him and his legacy. Shih is a widely known figure in Taiwan for his legacy in Taiwan’s democratisation and his role in the Kaohsiung Incident and Tangwai movement. He’s also famous for his role in the anti-corruption protests against then-President Chen Shui-bian in the early 2000s. Shih consistently called for Chen’s resignation and led the “Million Voices Against Corruption-Chen Must Go” campaign. For decades, he held politicians to high standards, and understandably so.

Taiwan’s New President: Continuity, Priorities, Vision

17 January 2024 Adrian Chiu

Written by Chieh-Ting Yeh. As recent developments transition into a period of stability, the focus shifts towards what lies ahead. The incoming government faces pivotal questions: How will President Lai’s four-year term compare to President Tsai’s preceding eight years? What key challenges await immediate attention from President Lai? Additionally, it’s crucial to consider the direction in which Taiwan is heading to carve its unique identity in the global landscape.

Taiwan People’s Party as the Kingmaker: What future holds for the party?

16 January 2024 Adrian Chiu

Written by Brian Hioe. The TPP has proven that it is a force with staying power in Taiwanese politics, then–for at least the next four years. Questions about the long-term viability of the party still remain. This is particularly regarding the party’s relationship with its chair, Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je, and how the TPP will relate to the KMT as the larger party in the pan-Blue camp.

Election win for the DPP, but a split legislature

15 January 2024 Chee-Hann Wu

Written by Gerrit van der Wees. After a hard-fought campaign, the DPP candidate “William” Lai Ching-te and his running mate Hsiao Bikhim emerged victorious in Taiwan’s presidential election race with 40.1 % of the vote. They were elected Taiwan’s President and Vice-President respectively. The total turnout was 71.8% of the eligible voters, a bit lower than the 74.9% in the 2020 elections. The main opposition candidate in the three-way race, Messrs. Hou Yu-ih of the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang Party, and his running mate, pro-China media personality Jaw Shaw-kang, received 33.5% of the vote, while Mr Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and his running mate Cynthia Wang, came in a respectable third with 26.5% of the vote.

Neither Green nor Just: The DPP’s Reckoning with Environmental Justice

12 January 2024 Yu-Chen

Written by Dominika Remžová. The Russian weaponisation of gas supplies has sparked a renewed interest in Taiwan’s energy security, placing the DPP’s anti-nuclear policies at the centre of attention. On the one hand, both energy and national security experts have criticised the DPP’s continuing nuclear phase-out for pushing Taiwan, which in 2022 imported more than 97% of its energy, into an increasingly precarious position. The opposition, on the other hand, has criticised the party’s 2025 energy mix formula (i.e., 20% renewable energy, 30% coal, and 50% LNG) for its inconsistency with international trends, namely the increasing role of nuclear energy in global decarbonisation efforts, which the DPP countered by referring to industry-wide trends, such as the renewable energy focus of the RE100 initiative, instead.

Taiwan’s 2024 Presidential Candidates: How Do They Fare on the Climate?

10 January 2024 Yu-Chen

Written by Chia-wei Chao & Benjamin Yang. When it comes to the climate, all three candidates in Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election have emphasised the importance of taking action and committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The main driver behind this mainstreaming of climate policy is the fact that supply chain requirements have made the country’s export competitiveness highly connected to climate performance. Therefore, we must scrutinise the comprehensiveness of each candidate’s policy proposals, rather than solely relying on whether they are climate denialists, to distinguish their positions. Taiwan Climate Action Network (TCAN), a collaborative advocacy platform organised by five NGOs, has thus produced a climate commitment tracker to compare their positions on seven key climate-related policies: (1) 2030 emissions reduction target, (2) carbon pricing strategies, (3) 2030 power mix, (4) renewable energy development plan, (5) industrial decarbonisation, (6) public participation, and (7) just transition. In this article, we will focus specifically on their 2030 pledges, carbon pricing strategies, and just transition policies.

Taiwan’s energy policy at the crossroads in the presidential election in 2024?

8 January 2024 Yu-Chen

Written by Anthony Ho-fai Li. Energy policy remains a highly controversial policy arena in Taiwan after democratisation, given its importance for Taiwan’s security, environmental sustainability and economic development. Under the presidency of Tsai Ing-wen, the agenda of “Nuclear-free Homeland 2025” (2025非核家園) proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2016 has been subject to political challenges, which involved the debates about the use of nuclear energy beyond 2025 and the reduced capacity of coal-fired electricity plants for air pollution mitigation. The policy strategy to replace nuclear energy with rapid solar energy development has also faced enormous social challenges as its large-scale installation conflicts with the existing land uses.

As Two Go Blue, will Green be the Tertius Gaudens of Taiwan’s 2024 Elections?

4 December 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Jasper Roctus. What then transpired in November went completely beyond general expectations. While a desponded Gou could have been expected to go independent or join forces with Ko Wen-je, the former mayor of Taipei (2014–2022) and founder of the third force, “white” (白) Taiwan People’s Party, an outright electoral pact between Hou and Ko seemed out of the question. The idea that Ko, who in the past has been perceived as greener than even the DPP as he, for instance, mingled with student protestors during the 2014 Sunflower Movement and later stumped for deep Green rockstar Freddy Lim, would join forces with the KMT representative of the establishment he claimed to loathe, seemed a contradiction in terms.

Why are the 2024 elections seemingly less competitive than the 2020 elections?

1 December 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Brian Hioe. Compared to the 2020 elections, it has often been remarked that the 2024 elections have been decidedly less competitive. Certainly, this does seem to be true, in that for most of the election cycle, DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te has been ahead. Nevertheless, what are the structural factors at work here, which differentiate the 2024 elections from the 2020 elections? We might take a look.

Taiwan’s Presidential Elections in Full Swing

29 November 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Gerrit van der Wees. Mid-November has thus fundamentally changed the picture of the campaign. The addition of Hsiao Bi-khim as VP candidate has reinvigorated Lai Ching-te’s campaign, while on the Blue-White side, the move to attempt a merger of the tickets had backfired and set bad blood. With Hou Yu-ih and Ko Wen-je running separate campaigns, the differences are now becoming increasingly clear.

The Green Party Taiwan’s Achievements and Challenges in Promoting Gender Equality

11 August 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Wang Yan-han, Dafydd Fell and Peng Yen-wen. Founded in January 1996, Green Party Taiwan (GPT) was the first Green Party to be established in Asia. It is one of the oldest movement parties in Taiwan, created through the efforts of student activists and several civil society groups, including activists from the eco-feminist Homemakers United Foundation. One of the main reasons Taiwan has made such impressive progress in the realm of gender equality has been due to civil society activism. Since Green Parties operate on the boundaries between civil and political society, an examination of the GPT’s case can bring a different perspective on Taiwan’s achievements and challenges in the realm of gender equality.

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